Trainer fined $14,000 but avoids suspension
A prominent Manawatu horse trainer who placed his hand on the inner thigh of an 18-year-old in a Christchurch bar has escaped disqualification or suspension by a racing appeals tribunal.
Mike Breslin, who was 54 at the time of the incident last year, has instead been fined $14,000 in a decision released by the racing industry’s Judicial Control Authority yesterday. His name and details of the case had been suppressed until the release of the decision.
He had originally been fined $8000 by a JCA judicial committee on a charge of committing an act detrimental to the interests of racing. Breslin contested the charge.
But the Racing Integrity Unit, which investigates and prosecutes breaches of racing’s rules, appealed, seeking a disqualification of nine to 12 months, which would have seen him barred from stables and anything to do with the racing industry. It said the $8000 fine was ‘‘manifestly inadequate’’.
Police had investigated a complaint of indecent assault, but decided against prosecuting while giving Breslin a warning.
The hearing was told Breslin had been socialising at the Racecourse Hotel in Christchurch after the first day of the New Zealand Cup carnival in November 2016. The 18-year-old was sitting on a bar stool watching her partner play pool late at night when few people were still in the bar.
The woman, who the judicial committee described as a truthful and reliable witness, said Breslin had sat on a stool next to her. She was aware Breslin had placed his hand under her dress on her inner thigh and then moved it upwards to about 3cm from her genital area.
She told the committee that she ‘‘froze’’. She said his hand remained on her thigh for 30 to 40 seconds and Breslin did not speak during this time.
She said she was petrified and ‘‘played dumb’’. She did not tell Breslin to desist but rather texted her partner, who eventually read her message and intervened.
The committee in its summary said there was ‘‘no credible evidence to suggest she in any way encouraged or consented to what was taking place.’’
The committee said Breslin desisted when challenged by the woman’s partner. He apologised extensively afterwards.
The partner told the committee that the following Monday he had met Breslin, who handed him a $100 note.
Breslin had said ‘‘I am really sorry, take ‘‘A’’ out for dinner’’, the partner of the woman, whose name is suppressed, told the committee.
Breslin gave evidence that he had been drunk and that he did not know that the woman was involved in the racing industry or that her partner, who was known to him, was engaged to the woman.
He acknowledged moving his hand under her dress and that part of his hand was on her inside thigh, but nowhere near her vagina.
Under cross-examination, Breslin said he believed that the woman was ‘‘showing an interest in me’’.
She had not made any response objecting to what he was doing and had not moved away. ‘‘There were no vibes to suggest problems,’’ he said.
In its original decision, the judicial committee did not believe the offence warranted disqualification, giving reasons that included that it was an isolated incident and that while the conduct was proved to be unacceptable it was not an indecent act of the most serious character.
The RIU in appealing said disqualification would ‘‘denounce’’ Breslin’s conduct and to deter him and others from engaging in such behaviour.
RIU counsel Brian Dickey said the woman had clearly suffered emotional harm and had been petrified.
‘‘The fact that she had to give evidence and be cross-examined at the hearing would have been additionally difficult for her.’’
Breslin’s counsel Paul Paino told the appeal hearing that the RIU had failed to establish that the effective penalty of $20,000 after $12,000 in costs were added - was manifestly inadequate.
He said Christchurch police had investigated the complaint thoroughly and after interviewing all of the witnesses decided ‘‘after detailing the circumstances of the offence, the victim’s reaction at the time and what Breslin stated in his interview, the opinion was that although Breslin’s action met the elements of indecent assault, his claim of an honest belief was a defence to the charge and that the chance of the prosecution having a successful outcome was highly unlikely’’.
Paino said Breslin genuinely regretted his behaviour that night and emphasised that he had apologised to the complainant that night and the next day.
He said a suspension or disqualification would have a significant impact upon Breslin’s Palmerston North stable and would likely lead to redundancies of staff.
The appeals tribunal said disqualification or suspension was not appropriate as Breslin did not previously know the complainant - and the charge was to do with a breach of racing rules, not one of indecent assault.
It said the $8000 fine did not ‘‘sufficiently denounce’’ Breslin’s conduct and so increased it to $14,000.
The appeals tribunal noted Breslin had said he had not drunk alcohol since the incident and had attended counselling for a year.
New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing had not revoked or suspended his trainer’s licence but added conditions that he attend counselling and had ordered that he not be alone with his female employees - none of whom had made any complaint about his behaviour.
RIU general manager Mike Godber said it submitted for a period of disqualification of between nine to 12 months.
‘‘It’s still our position that an imposition of a fine is an inadequate penalty in this case,’’ Godber said.